


Demons - Christmas

by Stanbillyhargrove



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, F/M, Inspired by Stranger Things (TV 2016), Soft Billy Hargrove, Steve Harrington is a Sweetheart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:01:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22221481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stanbillyhargrove/pseuds/Stanbillyhargrove
Summary: A Christmas blurb in my Demons AU
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Original Female Character(s), Steve Harrington/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	Demons - Christmas

After spending the morning with their families, after Neil started to drown himself in the whiskey Susan had got him for Christmas, Billy and Max slipped away into the Camaro. They breathed on their hands and rubbed them together while they let the engine warm up for a minute.

“I miss the beach,” Billy grumbled, “fucking colder than shit here.”

Max snorted and looked at her brother’s rosy face, “you can’t say the snow’s not pretty though.”

He smirked, shifting the car into gear and pulling out of the driveway, “fine. It’s nice for about five minutes.”

Max giggled and watched the snowflakes float down around them as they drove. In Max’s lap was two bags of gifts, full of brightly wrapped presents for Cat, Steve and the gang of kids. She was practically vibrating with excitement by the time they pulled into the driveway. Before Billy could put the car in park Max had jumped out the door and was running up to the front steps, red locks waving wildly behind her. He strode up the driveway after her, hands stuffed deep into his pockets. When he got to the open door he was greeted by the smell of cocoa and cinnamon, warming him instantly. Billy sighed happily when the warmth hit him, closed the door behind him and tossed his leather jacket onto the coat hanger beside the door. He could hear Max chatting excitedly to Cat in the kitchen and padded towards the noise, leaning against the door to the kitchen to watch them talk. It took Cat a second to look up and see Billy but when she did her face lit up with a smile as she flew across the room into his arms.

Billy caught her and nuzzled into her dark hair, “hey, Baby. You miss me?”

She giggled and pressed kisses under his jaw, “of course I did!”

The door to the bathroom could be heard unlocking and Cat stepped away from Billy when her mom came out of the bathroom.

Billy smiled at Julie when she came into the kitchen, “Merry Christmas, Julie.”

Julie beamed back at him and straightened her scrubs, “Merry Christmas, Billy. Max, good to see you again.”

Max grinned, “Merry Christmas, Julie!”

Julie stepped forward and pulled Cat in for a quick hug, “thank you for being so understanding, Cat. I’m happy your friends are coming to spend Christmas with you so you’re not alone.”

Cat smiled tightly, “it’s okay, Mom.”

After Julie left, Billy leaned against the counter in the kitchen, watching as Cat and Max started preparing food for dinner. The peaceful, domestic life was something that Billy never thought he would have, never thought he wanted. But now, watching the two of them he couldn’t help the overwhelming warmth that flooded his chest. He could just imagine the two of them fluttering around for every holiday, talking excitedly to each other while they prepared food. Billy could even imagine a little tyke running around their feet, a swollen pregnant belly.

“B?”

Billy shook his head, snapping out of his daydream to see Cat staring at him, “hmm?”

She smiled, the motion easily taking over her face, “where were you?”

A light blush warmed his cheeks and he stepped forward to grab Cat’s face in his hands, “right here, Baby. Just enjoying this.”

Billy pressed his lips to hers, groaning loudly just to make Max pretend to gag beside them.

“You guys are disgusting,” she complained.

Cat giggled and pushed away from Billy’s chest, giving him a playful swat, “peel the potatoes, before you get too excited.”

When they had all the food cooking, Max was at the kitchen table, her head in a brand new comic.

Billy sat in the living room and pulled Cat into his lap, “when do the others get here?”

She leaned into him, soaking up the heat that rolled off his chest, “should be here in a bit.”

Billy nodded and leaned over the edge of the couch to reach into a gift bag and pulled out a small box wrapped in bright green paper, “here. Before they get here. These are just from me, the other ones are from Max and I.”

Cat spun the box in her hands, a small grin on her face, “it’s so pretty, did Max wrap this for you?”

Billy snorted, “maybe.”

Cat giggled and tore into the gift, revealing a black box, “oooohh, what’s this?”

He wrapped his arms around her stomach and set his chin on her shoulder, “open it.”

Inside the box was two separate bundles of tissue paper, the top one had a small silver necklace with a B charm that Cat lovingly ran her fingers over.

“Oh, B, it’s so pretty. I love it,” she praised, twisting to kiss his cheek.

He smiled and nuzzled into her neck, “open the other one.”

Inside the other bundle of paper was a small stack of photos. Cat surrounded by smoke in the front seat of the Camaro, they had smoked so much that the air had been heavy with it, giving a mysteriously beautiful blur to the photo. Cat wrapped up on the couch with a steaming cup of tea in her hands, gazing wistfully out the window. Cat and Billy flexing their arms after a workout, slick with sweat and childish grins on their faces, she remembered Max taking that picture, when Cat had been so proud of the muscles popping out of her arm. There was another with Cat hanging off Billy’s flexed arm, her head thrown back with laughter and a small smirk ghosting over his lips. Cat, Steve and Billy all squished into the frame, faces pressed up against each other and scrunched up into goofy grins. The last one was Cat after a night out, leaning against the Camaro with a cigarette hanging from her fingers, she had a tight black dress on that wrapped up around her neck with a cut in the chest and ended above her knee - just short enough to flash the muscle of her thigh - Billy’s leather jacket hung over her shoulders and black, heeled boots, Jonathan had taken this picture, Cat remembered, said she looked beautiful.

Cat looked over at Billy dewy eyed, “these are amazing.”

Billy grinned, “had to do some favors to get them all, but I wanted you to see how amazing you are. How beautiful. So when you’re having a bad day you can see yourself how we see you.”

She kissed his cheek lightly and tipped her head against his, “I love you,” she murmured.

He squeezed her gently, “I love you too.”

There was a loud knock on the door before in burst Steve, Will, Mike, Dustin and El, all with pink cheeks and chattering excitedly.

“Merry Christmas!” They cheered, crowding into the living room.

Max came running out into the living room, flying into a giant hug between her and the other kids, “Merry Christmas!”

Cat jumped up from Billy’s lap to give Steve a hug, “Merry Christmas, Stevie.”

He wrapped one arm around her and squeezed her, “Merry Christmas, Cat. Hargrove,” he looked at Billy and nodded at him.

Billy nodded back, “Harrington.”

Max clapped her hands together, “should we eat?”

–

After dinner, the younger teens were opening gifts and setting up a movie night in the living room, movies and snacks provided by Steve, Cat and Billy as their Christmas gift to them along with promises to take them out for a day doing whatever they want to do. Steve grabbed the last bag of popcorn out of the microwave and dumped it into a bowl before heading into the living room to make himself comfortable on the couch. Cat pulled a blue bag out from one of the kitchen cupboards and handed it to Billy.

“What’s this?” He asked.

“Your present. Didn’t get to give it to you before everyone got here.”

Billy looked at her with a cocked eyebrow and pulled her into his chest to kiss the top of her head, “ being here, with you, with everyone having a good Christmas for once is all I want.”

She giggled and tipped her face up to kiss under his jaw, “shut up and open it. There’s more too.”

A flash of worry crossed his face, “you know I couldn’t-”

Cat shook her head against his throat, “don’t. You deserve to be spoiled.”

Billy stuck his tongue between his teeth and started pulling things out of the bag. The first thing was a thick, dark red hoodie.

“Since you don’t know how to dress for the winter, that one’s from Mom,” Cat joked.

Next, Billy unwrapped a long, thin silver chain with a C charm on it.

Cat giggled and ran her necklace across her bottom lip while he slipped his on, “great minds think alike.”

Billy’s chest warmed as he thumbed over the charm resting in the hollow of his chest and he had to clench his teeth together to get control over his emotions. There was also a white stone heart on a black cord and a mix tape that Cat had painted colorful hearts on with nail polish.

“For your car,” she explained, “I thought you could hang that from the mirror. You know, to think of me.”

Billy nodded, a small sad pang hitting him when he remembered the fight with Neil that had resulted in his boombox being smashed on the floor. How he’d felt so defeated when he knocked on Cat’s door that night and how she’d clutched him in her arms and promised they’d be out of here soon. That soon they could leave Hawkins and Neil and all their bad memories behind.

He swallowed the lump in his throat and gathered Cat in his arms to squeeze her tightly, “I fucking love you.”

She squeezed him back and mumbled against his chest, “I love you too, B.”

“Hey!” Steve called from the living room, “quit making out in there! We want to open presents!”

Cat and Billy split apart with a laugh and went into the living room where Steve and the kids had formed a circle on the floor. There were two spots left for Cat and Billy in front of the couch and a pile of presents in front of the twinkling tree in the corner.

“B, you want to hand out presents?” Cat asked him with a big smile on her face.

“Yeah, sure, Baby,” he agreed, walking towards the tree.

Billy spent the next while digging out presents and passing them around while Max and El stuck bows to his back every time he turned around. Whenever Billy’s back was turned to someone they started snickering until all the presents were opened and Billy’s back was covered in the shiny ribbons and nobody could contain their laughter anymore.

“Okay, the fuck are you all laughing at?” He growled.

Will, Mike, Dustin, Steve and Lucas doubled over in laughter, falling over each other into a heap. Max and El looked at him innocently before bursting into a fit of giggling. He looked to Cat for an answer and she bit her lip to control her laughter before answering.

“B, your back.”

Billy reached a hand behind him to brush at his back, a bunch of ribbons falling off onto the ground.

“What the? Max!” He growled, turning on her.

Max was howling with laughter as Billy stalked over to her, and didn’t notice until he had picked her up.

Max shrieked when he threw her over his shoulder, “it was El too!”

Billy spun around and looked at Steve, nodding at him before walking to the door with Max wiggling on his shoulder. Steve grinned and scrambled to throw El over his shoulder and followed Billy to the front door. Billy led them outside and stopped on the edge of the lawn and lowered Max into his arms.

“Ready, Harrington?” He asked, swinging Max forwards, “one, two, three!”

They tossed the shrieking girls into the thick snow and laughed loudly, walking back to the house while the girls crawled out of the snow.

“You oughta be nice, Billy!” Max grumbled, “or else you won’t get your present!”

Billy spun around to look at her while she and El brushed the snow off themselves in the doorway, “what are you talking about? Presents are done.”

Cat grinned, “boys, can you grab Billy’s presents out of my room?”

Will, Mike, Dustin and Lucas nodded and ran off down the hallway, returning a couple minutes later with a large box and carrying something else that was draped with a big blanket and had a huge red bow on top.

Billy’s eyes widened in shock, “what the hell?”

Cat walked forward and laid a gentle hand on his chest, making him look down at her, still confused, “we all pitched in to get you a couple things, B. Smaller one first, okay?”

Billy opened and closed his mouth a couple times before nodding, “you guys didn’t have to.”

Steve clapped his shoulder, “we wanted to.”

Billy exhaled loudly and walked forward to unwrap the box, revealing a brand new boombox and a stack of cassettes. There was one from Steve, one from Max and El and one from the boys, all loaded with their favorite songs and decorated as well as a few blank ones for Billy to make his own mix tapes with. Billy’s throat tightened and his jaw ticked while he fought to keep his emotions in check.

El looked confused, “do you like it?”

He looked up at her and nodded, “yeah, kid. I love it, thank you guys.”

“Now the big one!” Will exclaimed.

Billy smirked and grabbed the blanket in his hands, tugging it off quickly. Underneath was a simple black vanity table, complete with a mirror on top. Stuck in the edge of the mirror was a picture strip of Cat and Billy, the first picture they were puffing out their cheeks and crossing their eyes at the camera, the second their heads were thrown back with laughter and the third they were kissing, mouths still turned up with smiles. He ran a thumb over the strip gently, biting the inside of his cheek to stop the tears welling in his eyes.

“There’s more ,” Steve explained, pulling out the drawer and removing a stack of stickers to show him an AC/DC and an Iron Maiden sticker, “these are from me.”

Everybody picked out the stickers they had contributed. A skateboard and a skull from Max, a brightly colored graffiti style Bitchin from El and an assortment of Rubik’s cubes, guitars, cassettes and even an Animal the Muppet from the boys. Billy clenched his teeth together and ground out a clipped thank you before quickly walking outside, lighting a cigarette as he went.

El looked up at Cat, “is he not happy?”

Cat smiled down at the girl and placed a hand lightly on her shoulder and squeezed, “no, you guys, he loves it. I know he does, he’s just not very good at showing what he feels. You guys start the movie, okay?”

El nodded and joined the others in gathering around the TV. Cat gave Steve a hug before he went to sit down.

“You know he’s gunna kill us, right? Making him have emotions,” Steve joked, squeezing her tightly.

She laughed as they split and patted her pocket, “I’m not done yet.”

Cat exhaled loudly before leaving the house to join Billy on the front porch.

“Hey,” she whispered, leaning into his back and wrapping her arms around his stomach.

A cigarette was burning down between Billy’s fingers as he leaned over the railing, staring out into the yard.

He looked down at her clasped fingers, “hey.”

Cat kissed the back of his shoulder, “you okay?”

Billy’s jaw ticked, “I don’t need them thinking I’m a fucking charity case.”

“They don’t think that. Nobody knew what to get you so I told them your boombox broke, which it did and I told them we were moving out soon and you needed a vanity. Then we all wanted to add some personal touches,” Cat explained.

Billy tried to swallow the lump in his throat and shook his head to stop the tears forming in his eyes, “why? Why would they do that for me?”

Cat smiled, “cause it’s Christmas and we love you and you deserve to be spoiled for once.”

Billy wrapped an arm around her shoulder and looked down at her with misty eyes, “why do you like to torture me?”

Cat grinned up at him, “I have one more thing for you. Last bit of emotional torture, I promise.”

He groaned, “you trying to make me cry in front of everyone?”

She bit her lip and nodded as she pulled a small bundle of tissue paper out of her pocket and handed it to him. Billy took the gift from her and unwrapped a singular key.

His eyebrows knit together, “what?”

Cat looked down shyly, “my mom and I talked and since you basically live here anyways she said you could move in, if you want to, until we save up to move,” she knit her fingers together nervously, “and when we leave, that key can go to Max. If you think she might need it, that way you don’t have to worry about her. I know my mom’s gone a lot but you know, if-”

Billy’s grabbed her hands, “Cat.”

She looked up at him and noticed the tears welling up in his eyes and the way he pressed his lips together to stop them from wavering. He pulled her to his chest and wrapped around her, arms locking against her back like a vice while he buried his face in her hair. Cat could feel his shaky breaths and slowly ran her hands up and down his back, trying to soothe him.

“Do you want to? Move in with me?” Cat mumbled against his chest.

“Yeah, Baby,” he whispered, “yeah, I do.”

They heard the door open and were joined on the porch by Steve and the others.

“Is it hug Hargrove time?” Steve asked, laughing.

Cat tightened her hands around Billy’s back, “yep! I got him!”

“Go, go, go!” Max shouted, running at her brother.

He grunted when she jumped into his side and tucked his head further into Cat’s shoulder. The other kids quickly swarmed him, surrounding him in a group hug with Steve being the last to join in.

Steve nuzzled into Billy’s shoulder with a laugh, “you feeling the love, Hargrove?”

Billy let out a small huff before grumbling, “I will throw you all in the snow if you don’t get off me.”

“Oh, you love it,” Max teased.

A smile danced on Billy’s lips before he pocketed his new key, picked up Cat and broke free from the hug to run over to the lawn, throwing her shrieking into the powdery snow. The kids all screamed and laughed as he ran after each of them, picking them up to toss them onto the lawn until only Steve remained.

“Billy, you don’t wanna do this. We had a moment, didn’t we?” Steve joked.

Billy chuckled before tackling Steve into the snow, the two of them roaring with laughter as they shoved snow in each others faces.

When they finally tired and were soaking wet, everyone made their way back inside. Cat and Billy doled out extra clothes and blankets for everyone to have while everything dried and Steve started making hot chocolate. When they all had a mug and something dry to wear they curled up in the living room to watch a movie. The kids were all huddled on the floor while Cat and Billy lounged on the couch and Steve had curled up in a chair. Eventually, the younger teens fell asleep, all laying over top of each other and snoring.

“Hey,” Billy muttered, “thanks you guys. This was the best Christmas I’ve had in a long time.”

Steve smiled, “me too, first Christmas I’ve actually cared about in forever.”

Cat squeezed Billy’s hand, “should we make this our annual tradition? Even if people move away? All of us get together for a really good day?”

Billy nodded, “yeah, that sounds like a great idea.”

Steve smirked, “and make Billy cry?”

Billy groaned, “except that part. That was one time only.”

Cat giggled and nuzzled into Billy’s chest, “don’t worry B, we won’t tell everyone you’re a big softie.”


End file.
